Drip
by LeigonClaimed
Summary: Certain death, an unlikely savior and a choice. What is the rain woman to do? Warning: Will be Lemons.
1. Chapter 1

Drip

I hadn't seen the guild in over a month. I hadn't seen Grey in almost three. This was not the way I had envisioned it in my head. I'm not sure why I was so surprised when nothing in my life had ever gone the way I had hoped and my death certainly wouldn't be any different. But I had hoped. Hoped to have a life, to have a love...to live. The past year since joining FairyTail had been the greatest year of my lonely existence for a multitude of reasons. They taught me to smile, to laugh, that crying was ok and that love is not an impossible dream because they loved me as much as I imagine any family could. I had known what it was to be content, but for a brief time I finally knew what it was to be genuinely happy. That is probably more then I should have gotten and I should be thankful for the time I did get, but all I feel is sadness and loneliness at the thought that I was losing it all so soon. "Drip drip drop..."

A mini waterfall of blood drips from my body, various wounds splitting my tattered flesh wide and causing bile to rise in my throat. It hurt. Ive known pain in my life sure; emotional, physical and the heart shattering pain of loneliness. But the pain of dying is different. So many things run through your mind. Memories of those you love, those you've lost, those you miss and those you hate. Unfortunately for me Grey fit into all those categories. As my legs buckle beneath me and my body crumbles against the stones of this desolate cliff I allow myself for the first time in months to drown in those memories, the physical pain fading as emotions storm through me. Grey smiling and congratulating me for some accomplishment on some mission, Grey annoyed with me for 'stalking' him again, Grey showing me the beauty and light of a sunny sky for the first time in my life...and Grey crushing my dreams.

That is not the last thing that I want to think about before I am gone from Earthland forever. Instead how about I explain exactly what led to my current predicament? Take down a small group of dark mages, not a guild or anything, just a small group of four or five mages. The request had paid well and seemed simple enough for someone with as much power as me, or so I had thought. Imagine my surprise to find the group at least doubled if not tippled in the time between the posting and my arrival. My client hadn't seemed to know anything about that, which I'm sure could not bode well in regards to their plans. Nothing good comes of secrets. But as it stands right now I don't see myself sticking around long enough to figure out their real plan. I wish I could see my family one last time. I had stayed away after 'that' incident, only coming in the early mornings to pick up a job and then disappearing again for days on end, hoping the pain would fade as time went on. It didn't work. I miss them...I miss him.

It inst that I am obsessed per se...its more along the lines of people have avoided me for most of my life and when we connected that first time after the Lucy kidnapping incident I had fallen, and fallen hard. But for someone with no experience with people, and even less with love, it was a confusing time. I wanted him to love me, that's all. I did everything I could think of to endear myself to him, knowingly humiliating myself in the process but too determined to make him love me to care. Lucy and the others had tried to warn me that I would push him away but seeings as they cant even manage their own love lives I figured it was still worth a shot. I wish I would have listened. I wish I never would have fallen in love. Oh...that's a lie. If it were not for my love or meeting FairyTail my inevitable death would have been empty. At least now I can say I have truly lived, at least for a while.

Am I sad? No, I don't think I am sad really...more disappointed. My dreams, my future and my friends...I am sad to lose them. But I am not sad that I am dying. There will always come a time when the foe is stronger then you and we all will eventually fall. I had just hoped to have something **more** before my time came. How sad.

"Hey guys, looks like our pretty miss is crying now. Poor little thing." The voice is a mocking sneer, but I wont respond to it. I do not want my final moments to be filled with anger and misery. I would rather slip away in the remembered happiness, so I tune him and all the rest out. The blade protruding from my abdomen pretty much put a stop to the attacks so I didn't need to worry about them anymore, I'm no longer a threat. It is not a matter of if I die now, but when; and they know it. Bastards. Then another voice cuts into the background noise of taunts and cheers, this one softer and hinting at repulsion towards his comrades.

"Let the girl die in peace." Hm. So at least one of them had some redeeming qualities. It hadn't stopped him from stabbing the sword into my stomach, but at least he wouldn't make my last moments any more miserable. With that same calmly disgusted voice he ushers the others away before striding closer to me and dropping to his haunches so our eyes meet.

"It really is a shame. I take no pleasure in killing innocents, but the plan must not be compromised. I am sorry." Keeping out eyes locked together I feel his palm wrap around the hilt of the blade and whimper before gritting my teeth and giving a jerky nod. Ooh...that hurt. He was quick and I could tell he tried his damnedest to make it as painless as possible, but tearing that blade from my body was excruciating. I'm not sure if he wanted to say anything more or not but through my tears I watch his face waver then lock up again and he strides away without uttering another sound and I continue to watch long after they are gone. Its easier to focus on that then the pain. I'm getting dizzy and weak now, my thoughts jumbled and memories mixing together until one cannot be distinguished from another. Guess its time. I really wish I could say goodbye in person, but the sky is the only audience to my final words. "Thank you Lucy...FairyTail...Grey...goodbye."

"Juvia?"

I know that voice. Cracking eyes that feel glued shut I look in the direction the voice had come from, surprise flickering through me as I raise them to meet crimson red orbs looking just as surprised as mine. Gajeel. At least I don't have to die alone now. My eyes must have shut because the next thing I know I'm in his arms and he is running with dizzying speed. How nice it must be to have that dragon slayer speed and strength. "Gajeel?"

"Hey."

"...where are we going?" My voice is so weak I'm not sure he can hear, but I should know better; that slayer magics gives him an edge.

"The guild. You need Wendy like, yesterday."

"There isn't time."

"Then ill make time. Dammit Juvia don't you dare die on me. Open your eyes!"

I'm so tired, but a pissed of Gajeel can scare even me so I do my best to accommodate the irate man. Through fuzzy ears I catch snippets of conversation between him and what Im going to assume is Pantherlilly and deduce that he is sending the exceed ahead to find Wendy and make sure she is at the guild. The job I had taken wasn't too far from Magnolia, but far enough that I didn't think any of this would help. I was still going to die.

"How did you find me?"

"You smell like rain. It hasn't rained in weeks. Didn't take much thought to put two and two together when the scent of blood and rain got so strong. I was on a job not too far from here and decided to check it out. Good thing I did."

"I'm going to die Gajeel." His teeth mash together so hard there is an audible clang, like striking two swords against one another.

"Just shut up and focus on staying awake. Ill do the rest."


	2. Chapter 2

Dammit! I'm pushing my limits speed wise, but its not enough. What good is it to have all this gods damned power if I cant save one slip of a girl? The air escapes me in huffs as I push my body to the limits of its power, worry that I would jostle the bundle in my arms and be the cause of more damage being dismissed; ill take damage over death any day.

What the fuck had Juvia been doing out here on her own? The guild had been missing that fresh rain scent for weeks and though some days it seemed like her scent lingered fresh in the air the mage had been decidedly absent from the ruckus constantly teeming around him. It went against his normal dont-give-a-shit personality but he had found that he missed the over emotional rain girl and so when he had caught a whiff of her scent off he'd gone cursing himself as a fool with each step. But then the scent of blood had exploded in his nose and an unfamiliar emotion had ran like poison through his veins. Fear. Then I had been running, ignoring the group of mages I could sense and smell nearby but getting steadily further away. I had to find Juvia. I never expected to find her like this though.

When I had burst into the clearing my eyes had settled first on the dilapidated building dead ahead, dust and debris making it clear a battle had happened here recently and from the looks of it, a big one. Then I was scanning the debris, my ears tuning in on shallow harsh breathing with both relief and an odd sense of dread. My blood pumped like ice as the dread settled in my gut and spread out and for reasons I couldn't name I did not want to turn towards the sound of that breathing. _Fuck Gajeel, stop acting like a pansy._ Quick footwork spins my body and propels me forward at the same time, though the movement is slower then my previous frantic flight through the woods. _Well shit. Knew I shouldn't look_...

Shredded was a good word. Her skin was shredded, shallow superficial cuts that would be little to worry about if not for the fact that there had to be thousands of them. Then there was the odd angle of one of her shoulders, clearly dislocated and maybe even broken as well as the skin split wide in two places. That had to fucking hurt. But my biggest worry was that steady flow of blood from a large wound in her stomach, hell it looked like it went clear through here. It doesn't dawn on me until a few tense moments later that she had been impaled. Oh shit. Sure I had done some damage to people over the years and blood had little effect on me, but this was Juvia...this was my Nakama and it was different. Unsteady steps push me forward until im towering over her, unsure what to do. "Juvia?"

Her eyes crack open and flash in surprise before her lips curl into a smile that I would call adorable but Im not a fucking pansy so I wont. I'm not sure what she has to smile about right now anyway the moron. As her eyes slide shut again I am literally from shoved from my stupor and a pissed Pantherlily glares at me from his hover in front of my face.

"Gajeel. Pick. Her. Up. We need to get her to the guild." Shit I'm out of it. Dropping onto one knee I carefully pull her to my chest, giving two shits less about the blood stains I would have. It only takes a second to get her situated, being as light as she is it barely effects me to have her in my arms and I took off.

Back in the present my lungs are burning but I wont stop. Lily had gone ahead a while ago to prepare Wendy and possibly get Porlyusica and Juvia who, though having fought it, had finally succumbed to unconsciousness which left me alone with my thoughts and only the sound of my breathing in the otherwise eerily silent woods. But I didn't want to think now. Think about not making it in time...about her dying. _Fuck_. I don't know why the idea of her dead bothers me so much. All I know is I would be damned if I would let it happen. I needed this girl to live. I had Nakama at FairyTail, but Juvia had been my savior and close to my best friend. In the dark times at Phantom Lord, the hard times during his first few weeks at the guild, the nights where his past would catch up to him and leave him shaken and irrational. She was patient, kind, snapping at him when he deserved it but so easily forgiving when he did wrong. She was just Juvia, but also so much more.

The trail is widening and I breath a relieved sigh. Widening trail meant they were nearing the edge of the woods. He had only been running for maybe twenty minutes, but with her so close to death those minutes felt like hours. The trees begin the thin and his senses perk up, the smell of smoke, metal and the chill bite of mint alerting him to their presence before he can see them waiting for him on the path. Should have known they would come.

I don't break stride as I rush past them but they easily follow stride, running alongside me with various degrees of worry, rage and sadness on their faces. Natsu is the first to speak, but that wasn't too much of a surprise. Loud mouth fire bastard.

"The others stayed behind to prepare the infirmary. Lily gave us an idea of how bad her condition is, but he also said whoever did this wasn't there and we figured having some backup couldn't hurt anything. " Well, flame tard had a brain after all. Whadda you know.

"Yeah." The word is harsh, but my ragged breathing wont allow for much else.

"Did you see who it was?" Erza asks of course, thoughts of revenge swirling in that delightfully demented mind of hers I'm sure.

"No. Smelt them though."

"That's enough." Natsus eyes are lit with rage, the same rage that would manifest if any of his Nakama were hurt. Its just who he is, but I find it oddly comforting this time around knowing he will avenge this small blue bundle if it kills him. Grey I notice is silent, his face pinched in worry but also something akin to guilt. Odd. Ill have to pry whatever the hell it is out of him later as we are now speeding down the streets of Magnolia and my eyes leave his face to zero in on our target. Thank fuck.

Natsu bounds ahead and rips the doors open, probably causing damage but none of us stop to say anything about it. Down the isle and into the hall I race, dropping companions as I go until I skid to a stop before the infirmary doorway. Wendy is racing around the room gathering things and stacks upon stacks of supplies pile around one of the beds, Porlyusica standing stoic at its side. Her eyes meet mine and lower before she makes an annoyed noise in her throat.

"Stupid humans. Bring her here slayer and leave us. We have much work to do."


End file.
